Wednesday, 28 August 2013

I only had one favourite this month and that was enough because I was and still am obsessed with it. I've always loved to take photos and film so I thought it would be a good idea to get an editing program so I can play around with what I've got.

I know there are better ones but I downloaded Movie Maker as it seemed to be easy to use for a newbie like myself. I successfully edited 2 videos of my friends and they absolutely loved it, which made me really happy! I haven't had anything to edit in weeks which is frustrating, argh.

Friday, 23 August 2013

The good weather is finally back, yay! I went to the beach 3 times this week and it was lovely. I'm starting to get a tan but I know I'll lose it as soon as I stop going to the beach again, as usual. Boohoo.

The annoying side of the beach is how stiff and tangled your hair gets when it finally dries after you having the courage to dive in the cold water. Thankfully, I remembered that I still had a shampoo for sun-stressed hair.

It was given to me last year and I had forgotten about it until this summer. Since I didn't buy it myself, I don't know if it always comes in a cute little bag with 3 shampoos like mine, sorry! However, I've only used one of those shampoos and that's the one I'm going to review.

It smells amazingly; reminds me of those professional shampoos they use in the salons. It relieves your hair and scalps from chlorine, salt and minerals which your hair will be filled of after you go to the beach! I like to use it before my normal shampoo as it instantly makes my hair softer and untangled, thus making it easier to apply the next one.

I haven't quite figured out when you're supposed to use the other 2 shampoos but I'll tell you more about it if I find it worthy of your time.

Monday, 12 August 2013

My younger brother loves cooking and he does so for us from time to time. Usually it's desserts but this time he decided to try something new.

It's called 'bruschetta' and it contains grated cheese, onions, tomato, sausage, oregano and bread. It's absolutely delicious, tastes like pizza! And it's really quick to cook too. A good option when you need something fast to eat.

Wednesday, 7 August 2013

My mum is a pro at baking cakes or any type of yummy desserts so it was only fair to share at least one of her best recipes with you. She told me this is a regional sweet of our city and I don't know if you can translate the name so I will just type it in Portuguese. Also, I'm going to use our weight measurements, you'll have to convert them to your own; if you try to make it yourself, let me know in the comments how it went. And if you make a post about it, leave the link and I'll check it out!

Torta de Laranja

500g of sugar;

50g of flour;

10 eggs;

2 small oranges OR 1 big orange (you're going to need the peel + the juice);

10g of baking powder;

25g of butter (to grease);

Parchment paper for baking.

Start by grating the orange peel. Only remove the orange coloured part, which is the zest. The white
layer underneath is the pith and is very bitter. After a few grating
strokes on a given edge, just rotate the orange around until you have
the teaspoon you need. If you use 2 oranges, do this process with both of them.

Afterwards juice the orange using a plain juicer to coax all the juice out. Again, do this with both oranges if you use 2.

In a bowl, mix up the flour, the sugar and the baking powder.

After you blend them together, add the eggs. Don't put them all in at the same time - add 2, blend them in, add another 2, blend them in, etc until you have done that with all of the 10 eggs.

When everything is nicely mixed, you can finally add the orange juice and the peel and blend them in. Whilst doing so, you should already have the butter melting in a frying pan with the minimum temperature.

After all of that is done, grease your baking pan with the melted butter. Grab your parchment baking paper and put it on your baking pan, that is already greased. Grease the parchment paper with the butter and then lay the mixture on it slowly and well-proportioned.

Put it on the oven for 25 minutes precisely and on minimum temperature.

When it's ready, add sugar on top of it.

And now comes the hard part, I'd say. Take more of your parchment baking paper and place it on your table. Grab the baking pan with the "torta" in it and flip it nicely into the paper so that the part with the sugar is now facing down.

Start rolling the paper upwards so you get the right shape, just like the photo, and roll it until the end.

Before moving on, you really need to let it cool down so it doesn't break when you move it back into the baking pan.

When you feel that it is ready, place it on the baking pan and remove the parchment paper. Add more sugar on top if you want and voilá, your "torta de laranja" is ready!

You can cut it into little slices for a better presentation. Yummy!

I'm sorry if my explanation isn't the best, somethings are difficult to translate into English. But if you still decide to try this recipe, do let me know :)